Crypto mining scams occur when a hacker accesses a person’s computer without their permission to mine digital tokens. In 2018, crypto mining hackers were busy.

However, they were not launching ransomware attacks against companies and individuals around the world. Due to the decline in the price of digital tokens throughout 2018, hackers aim at exploring a better payload. This is crypto mining malware.

According to McAfee, a Santa Clara, California-based cybersecurity company. Situations involving coin mining malware increased 4,000%. During the fourth quarter of 2017, there was about 500,000 new coin mining malware. But, by the end of the third quarter of this year, malware had risen to 4 million.

According to McAfee Labs Threats Report, mining cryptocurrency via malware was one of the major stories in 2018. Crypto mining scams take place when a hacker accesses a person’s computer without permission to mine for digital tokens.

Most times, hackers gain access to a computer via a trick. They trick a person into clicking on a link in an email or they may infect a website to gain access. McAfee also spoke about an incident discovered by security researcher Remco Verhoef.

In this case, crypto mining malware was distributed in crypto mining chat groups. The users in Slack, Telegram, and Discord were made to click on the link. Then, they were asked to download a fix for crypto issues. When the download was complete, the fake line of code infected the user’s device. According to McAfee, crypto miners aim at taking advantage of any reliable scenario.

There are also others who are seeing crypto mining scams. According to Symantec, a cybersecurity company. Such fraudulent activities peek when the security software company blocked 8 million crypto jacking events. As at July, the company has blocked 5 million crypto jacking events.

Crypto Mining Malware Affects Ransomware

The growth of crypto mining malware during the year has displaced ransomware. This was a huge story in 2017 because the price of bitcoin and other digital token prices crashed.

Presently, since hackers cannot extort money off individual holdings and companies data ransom. They are searching for new ways to earn a living. Crypto mining malware occurs because it can go unnoticed for a very long time.

However, it takes more time to make money off the scam. A ransomware attack can yield a hacker more money in less time. However, the victim will become aware very soon and could balk at paying.

What is your take on the prospects of the industry and what ways to use for preventing more scams? You can share your opinion on this topic and lots more on our Twitter and Telegram pages.

Ifeanyi Egede is an experienced and versatile blockchain/crypto writer and researcher on with tons of published works both online and in the print media. He has close to a decade of writing experience. When he is not writing, he spends time with his lovely wife and kids. Learn more about how Ifeanyi Egede could be of help to your business.